A United States Air Force bomber threatens to obliterate New York

The whole city sees the plane circling: an ancient B-17 bomber flying inches above the tops of Manhattan's skyscrapers. As it nears Midtown, its bomb-bay doors creak open, giving the citizens a terrifying view of its five-hundred-pound bombs. No one knows why it's there. As city officials attempt to identify it, the B-17's pilot issues his demands. He wants five million dollars in unmarked bills, or Manhattan will burn.

Reasoning with the strangely calm pilot is impossible. To attack the plane is madness, for the pilot would have time to release his payload before going down. They have to get him out of the sky—but how?

Told in retrospect, through the documents and interviews of an official commission of inquiry, Target Manhattan is a chilling story of what can happen when America's military might turns against itself.